An evening walk turned into a rescue session for two women after a stroller rolled into the canal with a baby in it earlier this week.
Lisa Peck told the BBC News she and her husband had been walking near Leicester’s Grand Union Canal between Bede Park and Mill Lane on Tuesday when they stopped to talk to a mother whose toddler wanted to stroke their dogs.
The woman was feeding ducks with her daughter, who looked about two, as the pair walked by.
As she went to grab her two-year-old, she must have just let go of the stroller and it rolled into the canal.
“Screaming and horrified”, Lisa could see the fear in her eyes as she shouted ‘my baby, my baby’ before she jumped in to grab the stroller.
Realizing she needed assistance, Lisa also jumped in and started to help the mom lift the stroller out of the water.
“The sheer weight of the pushchair was like trying to lift a rock,” she recalled. “We were treading water and trying to lift it up.”
She said they managed to bring the stroller to the surface but it went under again. This is when she could see there was a baby in the stroller “the panic kicked in”.
“I thought ‘oh my God I have got to make sure this baby is going to be OK’.”
The pair managed to bring the stroller to the surface again and Lisa’s husband got hold of its handle.
She said: “Because of the weight, he could not lift it out then everyone was there all-of-a-sudden helping – they helped pull the pushchair out.”
When emergency crews arrived the baby was grey. They have been told that the baby is doing OK.
Lisa also noted that before the mother left she mouthed “thank you” to her.
We praying the baby is home with their family.
